Ride on a Shooting Star
by StoryQuipster
Summary: [Gajuvia Brotp Week] Rain: When he wakes up, the sky is covered with thick, dark clouds. Immediately, he can tell that Juvia's upset.
1. Phantom Lord

**Phantom Lord**

* * *

"I can't believe we let that bastard get away," Gajeel scowls as he stomps through the front door of the hotel they're staying in. "We were so fucking _close_. Then that idiot boy scout had to—''

"Gajeel-kun. He was _seven_ years old. Of course he would panic," Juvia interrupts, giving him a small, disapproving pout. Of course she would say that. She's stupidly defensive of kids.

"Still. What business did a seven year old have being there anyway? Wandering around in the middle of a creepy-ass forest. Seems really shady to me," he grumbles.

"He was _camping_. He's a boy scout remember?" Juvia exasperatedly says. Her hair, which is usually perfectly curled at the ends, is falling over her shoulders in limp waves, bits and pieces of twigs sticking out from the top. Her face is all covered in dirt and her dress has a small tear at the side. All in all? She looks like shit. Not that he looks any better. He probably looks much worse. He's the one who fell into a pit full of dung and nearly had his leg chopped off by a rabbit trap.

Today was a really shitty day, okay?

"Whatever. All he did was get in the way of everything! Now we're stuck in this dump for one more night."

"At least we'll have time to see the whale festival!" she cheerfully replies.

"Yeah, that would be cool," Gajeel gruffly admits. He's not going to say it out loud but watching whales and hearing them make weird screechy noises sounds kind of fun. "But that would also mean we have to deal with that asshole reporter for one more day."

"He's really not that bad Gajeel-kun," Juvia says as they start signing in and getting their room keys. Usually they just share a room to save up on money but this time around, their client paid for their accommodations. And there's no way he's about to miss a chance to have a night's sleep without Juvia constantly stealing his covers.

They were hired to find their client's accountant who ran off on him. It might not sound like a big deal but this accountant guy stole nearly half his money.

They managed to track him down in the woods but then the boy scout got in the way and he ended up in a pit with a bloody leg and Juvia got thrown into a nearby tree. The man they're after may be an accountant but fuck, can he put up a fight. It was also raining which really made everything all the more inconvenient. But he's not telling Juvia that. She's his friend and he doesn't want to upset her. He's not that much of an asshole.

"He wrote that I had a secret love child!"

"Well…that bundle you were carrying _did_ look like a baby—''

"It was a cat! _A cat._ And I only wrapped it in my jacket because it injured its paws," he defensively retorts.

"Aww. You rescued a baby cat?"

"Shut up."

"That's so cute," Juvia says, looking genuinely pleased.

_"Stop talking,_" he says through gritted teeth. "Point is, that story was bullshit."

"But you were spending a lot of time with that Veena girl—''

"Cause it was my job to guard her! You don't honestly believe these things, right?" he says, narrowing his eyes against hers.

"Of course not," Juvia squeaks, her voice unnaturally high. He gives her a look, not really believing her. She has an insane imagination that doesn't really need much fuel.

"When I'm through with this mission, I'm going to punch that little shit right in the—''

"Oooh Gajeel-kun!" she suddenly grabs his arm and starts shaking it.

"What?" he says, annoyed at being interrupted.

"They have a sauna!" she excitedly says.

"Really?" He could use a sauna right now. That and a good chunk of iron. He takes the pamphlet that Juvia hands to him and blanches when he sees the price. "No fucking way!"

Juvia pouts at him. "Why not?"

"There is no way we're paying this much to get steamed!"

"But Gajeel-kun," Juvia says. "Juvia just got thrown into a tree—''

"Well, I got thrown into a pit and had my leg chewed off by a rabbit trap—''

"And she's tried—''

"I'm tired too—''

"Which is exactly why we need to get a sauna room!"

"You can always steam yourself with your Sierra form."

"It's not the same. Pleeaaase. He's paying us a lot anyway," she whines as she shakes his arm even harder.

Gajeel looks away, trying to avoid her gaze so she doesn't see him mulling it over. His entire body is sore and a sauna does sound nice. They've been working very hard on this mission all day and they weren't even able to get any sleep last night—they had to take an overnight train to Lupinus. And they were really close to catching that slippery little fuck.

"Fine. I'll get us a sauna room," he gruffly says.

Juvia suddenly launches herself at him and tackles him into a hug.

"Waaaah! Thank you so much Gajeel-kun!"

"Ow! Fuck! Get off me, woman!"

"But Juvia wants to thank you!"

"You don't need to!"

"But I do!"

"If you don't get off me, I will nail you to a tree!"

Crazy woman.

* * *

"You only rented _one_ sauna room!" Juvia says, furious. Her hair is up in a messy knot and she's got nothing on but a towel wrapped around her body. They've just come out from the changing rooms where he saw a jacket that was vaguely similar to what the boy scout was wearing. It made him angry all over again and he had to eat a bar of iron to calm himself down.

"Well, that's what I said right?" he nonchalantly says as he opens the door and enters the room. The walls are paneled with wood and encircled with benches. At the center is a pit filled with hot rocks while two buckets of water stand at either side of it.

He pours some water over the rocks and gives a long sigh as steam fills the room. "Ahhh. Now this is more like it."

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia irately hisses to him from the outside.

"What? What do you want?" he responds in an equally annoyed voice. He ticks a brow up when he realizes that she's still standing outside. "What the hell are you doing there? Close the door or all the steam will escape!"

"Juvia is not going in there," she retorts.

"Why not? I already paid for it."

"Gajeel-kun. We're both…naked."

"No, we're not. We're both wearing towels," he points out.

"You know what Juvia means!"

"Stop making a big deal out of this! We share a room on most missions for fuck's sake!" he says, exasperated. He's seen her in her underwear once or twice and it's the same for her. They've even slept on the same bed—it's cheaper and they're both always trying to scrimp on money. He's confident enough in their friendship to know that they could be close without it becoming all weird. He honestly doesn't know what her deal is.

"You should've gotten us _two_ rooms!"

"We can't afford two sauna rooms. We still have the train ride and the whale show."

"But—''

"It's not like there's anything worth seeing anyway," Gajeel says as he looks her up and down with a derisive expression on his face.

"Hey!" Juvia cries, incensed.

"Come on. It's probably better for us to share the same sauna anyway. I mean, wouldn't you want to talk and stuff?" he says as he adds more water to the pit.

"Juvia…guesses. It would be pretty lonely if we had separate sauna rooms," she contemplatively says as she chews on her bottom lip.

"Just get in here," he tiredly says before she can say anything else.

"_Fine_," she says as she steps inside and closes the door from behind her. "But you better not peek."

"_You_ better not peek," Gajeel shoots back. Then, just to mess with her a little bit, he adds, "Unless you want to."

"A-As if!" Juvia retorts, flustered. He just laughs and she shoots him a nasty look.

She takes a seat opposite from the door and with a gesture of her hand, a stream of water rises from the bucket and spurts into the pit. More steam starts curling from the center.

"This is nice, isn't it Gajeel-kun?" she says as she leans back, contented.

"Yeah."

"A nice break from all the work we've been doing."

"Mm-hm."

"Juvia wonders what the whale show will be like."

"Would you stop talking? I'm trying to relax," Gajeel says.

"Juvia thought you wanted to talk."

"I only said that so you would get into the fucking room."

Juvia's cheeks puff up in the way that they usually do when she's angry. "You're so mean!"

Gajeel rolls his eyes. "Hey, I got us a sauna room didn't I—''

"Wait."

"What now?"

Juvia stands up and edges closer to the door. She peers through the tiny, glass window at the top. "Juvia thinks she saw someone…"

"What? What are you talking about?" Gajeel says as he leans forward.

"Juvia thought that she saw Honshu."

"Who's Honshu?"

"The accountant. Remember?" Juvia exasperatedly says.

"Oh. Right." He was never really good with names.

"Come on. We have to see if it's him."

Gajeel snorts. "Please, Sprinkler. What are the chances that he's sleeping at the exact same hotel as us?"

"Juvia really thinks it was him," she insistently says. "His hair is really hard to miss."

"You must've seen a guy who had a similar hairstyle. I mean I saw a jacket that was similar to what that idiot boy scout was wearing and—wait. Juvia?"

"Yes?" she says, turning to look at him.

"Where were we when the kid suddenly showed up and ruined everything for us?"

"East of Chosun Forest," she replies.

"And he claimed that their campsite was in…"

"Hahoe Clearing. That's…nearly two miles from where we were," Juvia says, a look of realization dawning on her face.

"That's a pretty far distance to get lost from," Gajeel comments as he gets up and moves towards the door. He and Juvia get out of the room and start wandering through the hallway of sauna rooms. Juvia's babbling on and on about something—probably their mission—but he's not really paying attention. He's trying to figure out why they didn't notice that the kid's alibi was shady up until now. Granted, they were both injured and exhausted and just dropped him off at the nearest police station the first chance they got. But still. They're usually sharper than that.

"Gajeel-kun, slow down. Your leg is still injured," Juvia says.

"I'm fine," he mumbles as they continue to peer into the tiny windows. The steam makes it difficult to see into the inside and they look a little weird just standing outside the doors. Once or twice, a passing chambermaid gives them a strange look but at this point, he really doesn't give a fuck about whatever they're thinking.

"Wait a second. Juvia thinks she sees him," she says as she places a hand on his arm. She's trying to discreetly peer into the window of one of the doors.

"Where?" he says as he looks over her shoulder. When he sees Honshu and the boy scout, he feels a stab of white hot anger. "That little bastard."

"Gajeel-kun—''

"He's been working with Honshu this whole time."

"Gajeel-kun—''

"_I told you. _I knew it. I knew there was something shady about that little brat—''

Something hard socks him on the face and he flies backwards.

"The fuck?" Gajeel mumbles, a little dazed. A sharp pain shoots through his injured leg.

"Juvia was going to tell you that he saw us. Now come on! They're getting away!" Juvia says as she rushes after Honshu and the kid, hands firmly on the towel. Gajeel groans before standing up and limping after Juvia. A few people emerge from the other sauna rooms, curious about the commotion they're causing.

When they're only about three meters apart from the two, he and Juvia exchange a look. They've known each other long enough to know what to do next without telling each other anything. Gajeel creates a small, iron kunai knife and throws it in between Honshu and the kid. He misses (on purpose) but it was enough to cause a distraction. Honshu momentarily halts while the kid stumbles.

"Water lock!" Juvia cries out as a burst of water erupts from her hands and encases the two of them.

"Nice," Gajeel says, a little breathless. "Great job, Sprink—''

He abruptly stops when he realizes that Juvia's towel has fallen off.

"Um…ugh…ugh…Juvia…"

"Hm?"

"Er…your…I mean…you're kind of…well…" In his embarrassment, he takes a step forward and before he can react, he accidentally slips on a puddle of water.

"Fuck—''

"Gajeel-kun—''

Juvia gives a cry of surprise as Gajeel topples over her, sending the two of them rolling on the ground. When they stop, Gajeel blinks his eyes open to see Juvia's horrified face, just inches away from his, breasts pressed up against his chest.

Holy fuck.

Holy fuck.

This cannot be happening.

_This cannot be happening._

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia shrieks, her body instinctively flickering into her Sierra form.

"Ow! Fuck! Turn that thing off!"

"Juvia can't!"

"Why are you on top of me!?"

"_Why are you naked!?"_

"_I'm what?"_ Gajeel says, becoming more and more mortified with every second. Juvia is quickly struggling to get up, but she's flickering in between her water and solid form, making it difficult for her to stand. Oh fuck. Is this what incest feels like? Because it's not very pleasant. He can literally feel his eyes burning. Or maybe that's just the steam coming from Juvia's body.

"Stop staring!"

"Stop shoving your breasts into my face!"

"Juvia isn't doing that on purpose!"

"You shouldn't have splashed water all over the floor!"

"How else was Juvia supposed to catch them?"

The sound of a camera shutter stops Gajeel before he can respond.

"Wait," he says, cringing. "Was that a camera?"

* * *

**New Power Couple Alert! Phantom Lord's Top Mages Caught in a Steamy Affair!  
**The Passionate Love Story Behind Gajeel Redfox and Juvia Lockser's Years-Long Secret Romance  
by Jet Perez

Last Monday, Phantom Lord's top mage Gajeel Redfox and member of Phantom's elite S-class group Element 4, Juvia Lockser were caught in a naked embrace at the sauna bars in the Kolon Hotel, Lupinus Town. Sources say that the two were in town for a mission but were plagued with arguments.

"Yeah, they were having a really bad argument. They even took separate rooms," Connor Merton, front desk clerk, stated. Sources in Phantom Lord found this strange since the two have been known to share a single room on missions.

They seemed to have reconciled however given that they shared a sauna room later in the evening and were seen in a scandalous public display of sexual intercourse in the sauna bar.

"It was disgusting. There were children in here. I told them to stop but they just went right on with it," said Honshu Kai, former accountant to candy shop tycoon Axle Magnum and recent convict of theft. "My son saw the whole thing. It's going to take _years_ of therapy for him to unsee that."

Kai, as well as several other guests at the Kolon Hotel, wish to take legal action against Phantom Lord for the outrageous display of public indecency shown by their mages. Kai especially demands compensation, stating that he cannot afford giving therapy treatment for his son while he's in jail.

Sources from the guild itself have reported that many have suspected Redfox and Lockser's affair for years. The two of them met each other as children, forming a bond that developed from friendship into romance.

"Juvia came in when she was about twelve or thirteen. They had a childhood friend romance kind of thing. She was the first person to kick Gajeel's ass and stand up to him. I think that's what attracted him to her. He likes competent women," a source stated.

"She's the only one he goes on missions with. And it's the same for her. Well, she goes with Element 4 sometimes but it's more of a contractual, obligatory thing," another source said.

Their romance was derailed for many years by Redfox's violence and anger issues and Lockser's crippling depression but the two were reported to have started dating about three years ago. However, the guild's strict rule against interwork relationships and highly competitive atmosphere coupled with Lockser's relationship with boyfriend, Titan Nose's Bora of Prominence and Redfox's relationship with heiress Veena Delacour have forced the two to keep their affair a secret. Bora and Delacour both have no comments although the former did express an interest in a tell-all interview.

If Redfox and Lockser do proceed with going public, they stand to be one of Fiore's most powerful couples. Gajeel Redfox is one of the country's few Dragon Slayers and is considered as Phantom Lord's most powerful mage, passing the S-class exam at the young age of fourteen years. Juvia Lockser, a water mage, also wields a rare type of magic and is said to have been a child prodigy, having been self-taught and mastering advanced levels at the tender age of thirteen years old. Both have been accredited with bringing down twenty-seven dark guilds under the Balam Alliance.

The two's public display of passion however, makes it very clear that their love for each other could no longer be hidden and that they refuse to let anything stand in the way of their relationship.

_Next Issue:  
__-Gray Fullbuster's secret to a perfectly sculpted body! PLUS: What he looks for in a woman, revealed!  
__-Exclusive preview of Blue Pegasus' Ichiya Kotobuki's sexy new photoshoot!  
__-Sorcerer's Weekly's Most Wanted Bachelor Siegrain: Secretly gay?  
__-Mirajane Strauss's Disastrous Calendar Shoot: Is she getting too old?_

* * *

"I am going to kill that son of a bitch!" Gajeel says as he tears Mage Magazine into two. From where he's standing, he can feel everyone's eyes on him and hear some of them laughing. When he catches one of his guildmates staring at him, he immediately narrows his eyes into a fierce glare. "I do not have violence and anger issues! And I thought I already made it clear that I never had a thing with Veena!"

"And Juvia does not have crippling depression! Just because she makes it rain all the time doesn't mean she's suicidal!" Juvia says as she looks at him. His face flushes and they instantly both look away. Fuck. They can't even handle looking at each other anymore.

"I can't believe that sleazy prick got a picture of us!"

"At least they had the decency to blur everything out," Juvia grudgingly amends. In all fairness, their faces aren't very clear since the picture just looks like one, giant, fleshy blob.

"That's because he knows I'm going to _kill him_ if he does." Gajeel scrubs a hand through his face. "My reputations going to be even worse off than it already is, especially after that whole love-child thing! Fucking tabloid, gossip-whore dicks!"

"You? What about Juvia? Everyone's going to think that she's some sort of cheating harlot," Juvia mutters. He can tell that she's super pissed even though her voice is even and unaffected and her face is calm and controlled. She usually acts and looks like this whenever they're in the guild hall. It still boggles him how she can turn into a completely different, less crazy version of herself when they're with their guildmates. Sometimes, he wonders if she has a switch or something.

"What's Bora-kun going to think of her now? Do you really think they reached out to him? He wouldn't answer any of Juvia's lacrima calls!" she says, her voice lacerating. "What if we break up? What if he hates me and never wants to speak to me again?"

"You've been dating for five days," Gajeel points out. And he's not too sad about them possibly breaking up. He's never really liked her boyfriend that much anyway. He seems like a grade A asshole.

She ignores his comment. She twists her own copy in her hand, trying to keep up her indifferent facade. "But this just a gossip rag right? Nobody takes this seriously, right?"

"_You_ take it seriously," Gajeel says.

"Juvia does not!" she defensively retorts.

"Anyway, what I really want to know is who the Phantom Lord 'sources' are. I bet it's Boze. Or Tutu. Who do you think it is?"

"Who cares? Juvia just wants to know if Bora-kun believes this or not."

"Maybe I should just beat up everyone I suspect. Just to be sure," Gajeel thoughtfully mutters, completely ignoring anything that Juvia's saying.

A flicker of passions maps across her face. "Juvia knows! We'll sue! We'll bring them to court and expose the truth and—''

"Um, guys?"

The two of them turn to look at Sue who's discreetly trying not to give them a weird look.

"What?" Gajeel gruffly says.

"Master Jose wants to see the two of you," she says, looking nervous.

Gajeel and Juvia exchange a look. A meeting with Master Jose never ends well.

"What do you think he wants?" he urgently whispers as he gets off his seat and places his drink on the counter.

"Juvia doesn't know. Maybe he wants to congratulate us for a job well done?" she whispers back as they head towards his office.

"Or he'll punish us for damaging Phantom Lord's reputation," he says, blanching at the thought. Master Jose isn't the most understanding man on the planet and he's usually quick to hand out harsh judgments without further contemplation. He prides himself on being the master of the top guild in Fiore so failed missions, destroyed property or public displays of embarrassment will immediately warrant a brutal reprimand that goes _beyond_ scolding.

A look of worry cracks through Juvia's calm demeanour.

"Just let me handle this, okay?" he says. Juvia's a master at keeping herself under control in tough situations but he knows that deep down, she's a lot more sensitive than him. He can take it better than her. Juvia opens her mouth to protest but he cuts her off with a stern look. She sighs and nods her head. Gajeel takes a deep breath and wrenches the door open.

"Sit," Master Jose says in a bland voice. The two of them nervously take their seats.

"I suppose you two have an idea why you're here," he begins. He takes a copy of Mage Magazine out and slowly pushes it towards them. The two of them nervously blink at it.

"Master, before anything, I'd just like to say that everything in that article is absolutely _false_ and the photo was taken completely out of context," Gajeel begins.

"And before we explain, we would also like to express our sincerest apologies for bringing shame on to the guild," Juvia interjects.

"And if you plan on punishing us, please give whatever punishment you plan on giving Juvia to me—''

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia gasps. "Not again!"

"I'll make sure this will never happen again. _Ever_," Gajeel finishes, lightly swatting her arm so she'll be quiet.

Master Jose doesn't answer them. In fact, he seems to have not heard a word of what they've just been saying. He's leaning against his chair, a thoughtful look mapped across his features as he lightly strokes his thin moustache.

"You know…I'm not exactly sure where to start," he begins. "I knew that I would have to have a talk about this with you two, with _all of you_ in the guild actually, at some point. I do see you as my children you know, even though it may not seem like it at times."

"Um…okay?" Gajeel says, confused at the weirdly fatherly tone Master Jose is using.

"I guess I knew this would happen eventually given how you two seemed to always work so well together. You two can't be children forever. You're bound to start having these…_urges_," he says as he takes a piece of mint from a nearby bowl. He starts unwrapping it, his face still contemplative, nostalgic even. "I remember it like it was yesterday when I recruited you Juvia. You only came up as high as my chest. And Gajeel! You were so skinny back then! Ahhh yes. And that fight you started with her was so exciting, especially when you started losing. Those were the times, eh?"

"Juvia supposes so," she says, bewildered at the behavior of their normally stern, maniacal master.

"And for the record, she _didn't_ beat me," Gajeel interjects, unable to help himself.

"I just want you to know that despite our guild's strict rule against interwork relationships, I fully support your relationship. It doesn't seem to be a detriment to your capacity as guild mages," Master Jose says. Gajeel's eyes instinctively narrow in suspicion. If Master Jose thinks that Juvia is important to him in _any way,_ he will not hesitate to exploit it and use it against Gajeel. He's already half-suspicious that this little talk of theirs has something to do with their Master subtly threatening them or something.

"Um…me and Gajeel-kun are actually not together—''

"Do you two know how pollination works?" he suddenly asks.

They both nod.

"No? Well, I guess I'll just have to teach you," he says.

Juvia raises a hand. "Um Master? Actually, we said that we _do_ know how pollination works—''

"A flower starts out as a bud, small but full of potential and promise!" Master Jose continues, seeming to have not heard Juvia. "But with time, the bud blooms into a beautiful flower, filled with pollen, ready to bring more flowers into the world. The flower however, cannot do it alone. It needs the help of the bee who must pollinate the flower's seeds with its stinger—''

"I'm pretty sure bees don't pollinate flowers that way," Gajeel interjects.

"It must be gentle and patient," he continues, completely ignoring Gajeel. "Always observant of the flower's feeling and wishes, making sure to obtain a little something called _consent_—''

"Wait. Why would a bee need a flower's consent? Flowers don't talk. And the pollination process is a natural occurrence so it doesn't need anyone's permission to happen," Gajeel says, becoming more and more confused with this talk. From the corner of his eyes, Juvia has inexplicably turned into a violent shade of red. He gives her a questioning look but she's stubbornly avoiding his gaze.

What's going on?

"—before it thrusts into the flower again and again until both reach this point of pleasure and ecstasy—''

Fuck.

Is _that_ what he's talking about?

"Master," Gajeel interjects.

"What?" Master Jose says, annoyed at being interrupted.

"I know what sex is," he mumbles, his face turning red as he says the words.

The three of them all sit there in awkward silence.

Gajeel tries to fight the urge to stab himself in the chest with Master Jose's pen. This has got to be the single, most embarrassing, mortifying thing that's ever happened to him—even more than when he fell on top of Juvia naked.

In an effort to break the tension, he mumbles, "Well, I don't know about Juvia though—''

"Juvia also knows what sex is," Juvia quickly clarifies, shooting him an annoyed look. "She has a boyfriend."

Then, she hastily adds, "Not that we've ever done it."

"You have a boyfriend?" Master Jose looks mildly surprised.

"Er…yes."

"He's from Titan Nose," Gajeel adds.

"So you two aren't together?"

"Er…no. Not really," Gajeel says.

"Oh. Well, I guess I should move on to protection then since you both clearly know how the process works—''

"We also know how condoms work," Gajeel says. He can't believe he's even talking about _this_ with his guild master of all people. He will never live this down.

"Oh. Okay. Just didn't want Juvia to suddenly turn up pregnant," Master Jose says with a small laugh. Juvia forces out a small smile. "Wouldn't want to lose one of our top mages now would we?"

"No, of course we wouldn't," Gajeel says as he attempts to laugh.

"Well, if that's the case," Master Jose leans back against his chair. "Dismissed."

"So...you're not mad about the article?" Gajeel asks. Master Jose probably isn't but you know. He just has to be sure.

"No, of course not. This magazine writes nothing but brainless trash," Master Jose dismissively says.

"But then why—''

"You two were naked and on top of each other," he says.

"Oh. Right," Gajeel mutters. "Well…goodbye."

The two of them awkwardly rush out of the room where they meet Sue, dutifully doing some paperwork on a nearby desk. "Hey, how'd it go?"

Gajeel and Juvia lock eyes with each other. Almost immediately, they spring apart as if scalded, faces both red.

"Nothing," they quickly say as they both walk opposite ways from each other.

He seriously won't be doing any missions with her any time soon.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So, I'm horrendously late for Gajuvia Brotp Week but better late than never, right? This is shameless ridiculousness as will probably be most of the oneshots for the other prompts. I don't think it's possible for Phantom Lord to have a rule against co-workers/co-guildmates dating. Some companies actually have that rule. I have this headcanon that PL is a guild that's similar to Sabertooth. It's a legal guild and their members are note technically evil but they are more pragmatic and work-oriented when it comes to achieving their missions. I want to explore that maybe in later oneshots. Anyways, I don't think it's much of a stretch for Jose to think that relationships will be a detriment to their jobs.

As for the timeline of when Juvia joined PL, people might have qualms with it but I do think she went to PL at a fairly early age.

I also have this headcanon that when Juvia was in Phantom Lord, she was still kind of like the Juvia we knew, except she just showed that side of her around Gajeel. Like, you could see it in her fight with Gray, that her bubbly personality peeked through at certain moments. To be honest, she really didn't strike me as gloomy when I first saw her, more of cool and collected. I think she just seemed that way when she first appeared a.) acting like how she usually acts won't get her any respect among her guildmates and b.) she's genuinely miserable when she's around them and can't seem to connect with them.

Also, shout out to **xloudxloud's** amazing fic _Punishment_ and **Amnesty's** _Accidents Happen _for serving as inspiration to most of my headcanons for this fic and for PL in general.

This fic is also dedicated to **kurohyacchan** and **Doctor. Uta** (if they're reading this) as a thank you for the lovely, kind messages they left in my inbox. ^^

Anyways, thank you so much for reading and tell me what you think if you have the time! :))


	2. Comfort

**Comfort**

* * *

When Gajeel ends up taking a mission that essentially involves them babysitting a five year old, she ignores all of his protests and drags him off to the doctor.

Turns out, he's perfectly fine (except that his blood pressure is a bit high) and that she _might_ have overreacted. But in her defense, Gajeel made an absolutely un-Gajeel-like decision. For as long as she's known him, he was never the kind of person to take easy missions, even if they paid a lot. And he _hates_ kids (okay, maybe not, he's really just a big softie after all) and has no patience for dealing with them. So she doesn't think that it's far-fetched that she believed he wasn't completely fine when he agreed to that mission.

"I can't believe you made me spend the whole afternoon there! Now we're going to have to take the night train!" Gajeel complains as they walk out of the doctor's office.

"But Gajeel-kun, you were being weird," she defensively tells him.

"How is asking you to go on a mission with me weird?" he irately demands.

"You just agreed to babysit a five year old," she points out.

"We're not babysitting him. We're _guarding_ him," he retorts.

She raises a brow and takes out the paper containing the mission details. "It says here that aside from making sure he's safe from assassins, mages must also 'sing our son a lullaby, take him out on a refreshing walk and ensure that he eats all of his vegetables and gets his hour long nap—'"

"Fine! So we have extra stuff to do! But the main job is to _protect_ him, not babysit him," Gajeel says as he looks away, embarrassed.

"But—''

"Look, are you coming with me or not?" he exasperatedly says.

"Of course Juvia is!" she says. "She's just surprised, that's all. You hate jobs like these."

He gives a small shrug. "I'm just tired and thought that I'd take it easy for the next mission."

Juvia's lips form into a questioning frown. "Your last mission was going undercover at a hospital where you spent three days playing with a stethoscope and telling patients they had the crabs."

"It was a very dangerous mission that involved known extortionists! And some of those patients really _did_ have the crabs!" Gajeel retorts as he stuffs his hands into his pockets and looks away. Juvia just places a hand in front of her mouth and giggles. Gajeel hates it whenever she points out how childish he can be sometimes.

"I just want to relax, okay?" he defensively says. He's not meeting her gaze and she can tell that he's hiding something. But she doesn't push it. She knows that he doesn't like it whenever someone keeps asking him questions he doesn't want to be asked.

"And also," he adds after a moment's pause. An excited grin spreads across his face. "Singing a lullaby means that I get a chance to debut my new song!"

Juvia relax, all of her apprehensions immediately disappearing. That's a more Gajeel-like reason. She grins at him. "Oh. Now everything makes so much more sense."

* * *

Gajeel leaves about halfway through the mission and doesn't return for the next few hours. Juvia spends the rest of her time with Naota, the kid they're protecting, playing games with him and helping him with his letters. He's sweet, if not a little rambunctious, but she doesn't really mind because there's nothing more she loves than spending time with kids.

He's also very excited to spend some time with someone other than his butlers and maids. She's not exactly sure but he seems very lonely. She supposes that it has something to do with his parents' jobs—his father's a businessman and is the head of one of the country's biggest trading guilds while his mother works at the mayor's office. Two assassination attempts have been made on them.

(All poison apparently; the first time, the spaghetti had too much tomato and the second time; there were three more raisins on their cookies. Juvia thinks that it has more to do with their cook than any assassination attempt.)

So it made sense for them to hire guild mages to look after their son while they were away. They're paying a lot for this mission so she doesn't really mind that they're being absolutely ridiculous and paranoid over the whole thing.

When it's almost six o'clock, Juvia starts becoming worried. Gajeel still hasn't returned yet and he hasn't called the house up to tell her where he is or when he'll be back. At this point, she's pretty sure that he didn't accept this mission because he wanted to debut his new song. It's something else—something _serious_.

Immediately, a million different scenarios start flashing across her mind. Maybe he got caught up and joined a dark guild during one of his undercover missions and is secretly transporting illegal weapons for them. Or maybe someone's been extorting him and now, Gajeel has taken all of the money he has from the bank to pay the person off. Or maybe, at some point, he's become an assassin and the real reason why he insisted on taking this mission was because he planned on taking someone out.

Okay, maybe that last one was a little too far-fetched. Or all of them. She shakes her head, telling herself to stop overreacting. He probably went to get some milk and got caught up with something else on the way back.

She suddenly stiffens.

What if he tripped and fell and ruptured his head on his way back? Or got mugged and shot. Or what if he got kidnapped and is systematically being tortured somewhere. Or what if he walked into a crime scene and got killed in the crossfire—

"Juvia-chan, look!"

She looks to the side and finds Naota holding up a misshapen triangle of cookie dough in his hands. The corners of her mouth lift into a smile.

"It's a volcano!" he happily says.

She turns the temperature of the stove down and stops stirring the soup. "It looks great! Put it on the tray with the rest so we could pop it into the oven."

"I made a bird and a panda too," he babbles as he leans to the left and plops the cookie dough on to the tray. He's sitting on a high chair, his legs restlessly swinging in the air. Juvia grins at him, feeling an inexplicable surge of happiness.

"What're you making?" he asks as he leans towards her.

"Beef stew," she cheerfully tells him. The cook wanted to make dinner but she insisted on doing it herself.

"There are carrots in them," he says, his nose wrinkling.

"But that's what makes it so yummy!" she says, remembering that one of the mission's specifications was to make sure that Naota ate all of his vegetables.

"I don't think so," he says, giving her a disbelieving look.

"Just try it out," she encouragingly says as she ladles a chunk of beef and a slice of carrot. She holds it out to him. He folds his arms and looks away.

"I don't wanna," he says. He pouts and stares at the window. "I wanna go and play tag and we could've if it weren't for this stupid rain."

Juvia flinches, realizes she's doing it and quickly attempts to school her features. Naota notices though.

"What's wrong?" he says.

"Nothing," she replies, looking away. She knows that he didn't mean to purposely hurt her and she should be used to it by now. But it still stings, every time, and what's so upsetting to her is that when they say those things (I hate the rain, the rain's so stupid, I wish the rain would go away, the rain's so gloomy), it's _instinctive_. Almost as if it's natural to hate it—to hate her.

"Come on. Time for dinner," she says, smile strained. She turns the heat off and takes a couple of bowls. Naota looks at her, clearly not convinced that she's okay. Before he can call her out on it, Juvia scoops him up and sets him on the dining table.

They spend the rest of the evening eating dinner and reading storybooks. Juvia plays hide and seek with him for a little while—Naota hides in the same spot every time but she pretends to look for him anyway. Then, he brings out all of his books and makes him read to her. He falls asleep halfway through and she carries him to his bed and tucks him in, all nice and snug.

She's in the middle of pacing back and forth in anxiety, just waiting for Gajeel to show up or call her or something when she hears footsteps from behind her.

"Juvia-chan?"

She turns around and finds Naota blearily rubbing his eyes.

"Naota-kun?" she says, moving closer.

"I can't sleep," he mumbles.

"Why? Are you afraid of the dark? Do you want me to turn on one of the lights?" Juvia asks.

"No. It's not that," he says, moving closer and clutching at her skirt. "I'm afraid of the dragon."

"Dragon?" she says, confused.

"The townspeople said they saw a dragon flying near the fields. They said it ate their sheep and cows," Naota says, his lower lip trembling in fear. "I'm scared."

Juvia blinks at him, suddenly realizing where Gajeel went off to. Or what he's been doing for the past few hours.

"Dragons…" she murmurs.

"Huh?"

She gives him a re-assuring smile.

"Come on. I'll stay with you the whole night and hold your hand. Sound good?" she says.

Naota pouts at her and says, "Don't say it like that! I'm not a baby!"

"Of course not. But do you still want me to? Be there for you I mean?" Juvia asks him.

He looks down and thinks it over.

"Yes," he finally whimpers. He holds his hands out and she takes it. When she's got him safely tucked in his bed, she tries to read him one more story but he tells her that he just wants to talk. She looks at him contemplatively as he babbles on and on about volcanoes. She doesn't want to scare him by bringing the whole dragon thing up again but she is afraid of what might've happened to Gajeel.

"So…"she says once Naota finishes his talking. "Dragons, huh?"

* * *

Naota's parents arrive late in the evening, at around eleven o'clock and by then, Gajeel still hasn't called or arrived. She chats with them for a little while and tries to pretend as if she isn't on the verge of imploding. She knows that Gajeel is more than capable of taking care of himself but she can't help but worry. Especially if her suspicions about why he's really here will be proven correct.

They ask her where Gajeel is and she gives them a vague answer about him going off to do some banking arrangements. They give her a suspicious look but she's done a good job and Naota has eaten all of his vegetables and taken his nap, so they don't ask her any more questions. They pay her the money and as she gives one last affectionate pat to a sleeping Naota, his mother pulls her aside and confidentially asks if they have any suspects for the assassination attempt. Oh right. They were also supposed to do that.

She talks about them maybe hiring a new cook and that three extra raisins aren't exactly signs of an assassination attempt but Naota's mom seems to have not heard her. When she finally finishes with settling accounts and saying goodbyes, she makes her way out of the house and directly to the newspaper stands.

What Naota said was absolutely true.

There has been a dragon sighting for the past three weeks and several sheep, cattle and other livestock have been mysteriously slaughtered and mutilated. There are even pictures.

Juvia sighs, stricken. If there are pictures then surely it must mean that there's a high chance it's really him. And maybe Gajeel met him and that's why he didn't come back because he was so excited and caught up that he just forgot about their mission all together.

She tries to force a smile out, tries to tell herself that maybe that's it.

She quickly takes her wallet out and roots around for a picture of Gajeel. She finds one—it's a picture of them at an Anthrax concert—and starts approaching people, asking them if they've seen him around. People rudely brush her off or say no, they haven't seen him, but she doesn't allow herself to be discouraged. She walks through the rain, umbrella in hand, asking person after person until finally, a portly old man waiting by a carriage stop tells her, "Yeah, I saw him. He went to Marky's. Saddest fellow I've ever seen. Really felt sorry for him."

Juvia's chest constricts into a little squeeze and her hands subconsciously clench around the photograph.

So Gajeel didn't find him.

She's suddenly, inexplicably sad. She's been with him during times when he's received false alarms. He likes to act as if it doesn't bother him but she knows that it does. It hurts him and upsets him because he gets all of his hopes up and tries so hard only for everything to get thrown back into his face.

She's desperate to find Gajeel—all she really wants to do is to give him a hug and tell him that she's there for him (even though he'll probably complain or push her away). She tucks the photograph in her dress pocket and asks the portly man for some directions before moving along her way.

When she gets to Marky's, she's brought with her stuff that Gajeel needs—an entire tin full of mint cookies, a guitar pick, the newest album of his favorite band and an accompanying poster, a thick, leather jacket, a bottle of coconut shampoo and a bouquet of flowers.

Okay, fine. So maybe, he doesn't need _all_ this stuff. But what he does need is all the comfort he can get.

"Gajeel-kun!" she wails when she finds him sitting at a corner table, alone and brooding.

He looks up, eyes widening at the mountain of stuff she has in her arms.

"Juvia—ow! Fuck!''

"Gajeel-kun! Don't worry! Juvia's here! It's all going to be okay!" she says as she tackles him into a hug and all the stuff comes crashing into his chest and around them. Then, suddenly, she realizes that she's just spent the past few hours out of her mind with worry and anger starts bubble up from inside her.

"What—''

"And where were you? How dare you just go off and not tell Juvia where you were? Do you have any idea how worried Juvia was?" she explodes as she places her hands on her hips and glares at him.

"Calm down, woman. I'm fine, aren't I?" he gruffly says.

"Still! You never thought to leave Juvia a message?" she retorts.

He looks away, guilty. "It's not like I wasn't going to go back and just leave you in a lurch."

"Gajeel-kun, it's nearly midnight," she tells him.

"So it slipped my mind. Whatever," he says, his eyes resolutely on the tabletop. Juvia blinks at him, trying to gauge the expression on his face. Finally, after a few moments of tense silence, Gajeel mutters a barely audible, "Sorry."

She looks at him in surprise, caught off guard that he actually bothered to apologize.

"W-What?"

"You heard me the first time!" he irritably says. He gestures at the pile of stuff on the table and on his lap. "And what the fuck is all this?"

"It's for you!" she brightly tells him.

He picks up the bouquet of flowers and gives her an incredulous look. "Why would I want a bouquet of flowers?"

Okay, so maybe she jumped the gun when she bought that.

"It's so you'd feel better!" she defensively says.

He stiffens, an unreadable look on his face. "Why would I need to feel better? I'm perfectly fine."

"Look, Gajeel-kun. You can stop pretending. Juvia knows and she just wants you to know that she's here for you no matter—''

"I don't need anyone to be here for me because nothing's wrong," he roughly interrupts. He stands up and moves past her. "I'm going out for a walk."

Oh god. She's doing it all wrong. Gajeel hasn't been upset _upset_ for a long time that she's forgotten how he can be when he's like this. She shouldn't have gone into it, immediately declaring that she knows why he's so sad and broody. The thing with Gajeel is, he has his own very _distinct_ process for dealing with disappointing situations. She can't make it obvious that she knows something is wrong or express sympathy for him. Or ask him how he's feeling.

Like there was one time, when he mucked a mission up and Master Jose punished him really bad. He showed up in her apartment and said he wanted to do karaoke and she stupidly asked him, "What happened?" And then he exploded and went on a long rant about how he just wanted to spend time with his best friend and drink beer and sing all of his favorite songs all night long and can't he want that without there being something wrong?

Generally, she's learned that the best thing to do whenever he's being like this is to be subtle and just let him tell her about it in his own time.

Which is probably why buying him all this stuff wasn't the best idea.

He suddenly comes back and grabs everything but the flowers. "But I think I'll take these."

"Gajeel-kun, wait!" Juvia says as she scrambles after him. "At least bring my umbrella with you!"

She follows him outside, ignoring the torrent of rain pouring down on her. It's been growing stronger since she's figured out that he didn't find Metallicana.

Gajeel ignores her, all of the stuff she's bought him shoved into a Marky's plastic bag. He's purposefully striding away from her, his hair wet and sticking to his face.

"Gajeel-kun!" She reluctantly moves towards him, trying to think of a subtle way of comforting him.

"Do you want a hug?" she finally asks him.

"No!"

Juvia cringes. So much for being subtle.

"But—''

"Leave me alone! Didn't I tell you that I'm fine?" he irritably says.

"Please, Gajeel-kun. Juvia's sorry she assumed that anything was ever wrong," she says as she gives a short bow and opens her umbrella. "Let's go back inside. _Please_."

"I want to get some fresh air," he stubbornly says.

"It's raining."

"I don't care. Just leave me alone."

"Then at least take my umbrella. You need it more than me. You'll get sick," she pleads.

"I don't need it."

"Gajeel-kun—''

"Look, I'm fine okay? It's no big deal!" He stuffs his hands in his pockets. "I already expected it anyway. All those rumors are always never true."

"But you don't know that! Maybe…maybe this time, it's really him! Well…there were sightings and pictures and the sheep were even—''

"It was just an abnormally large bird. And the sheep and cattle slaughters were done by some psycho," Gajeel mutters.

"Maybe he's still here somewhere. Maybe you missed something. The pictures, they really looked like—''

"It was a bird, Juvia. _A bird_. You know me. I'm very thorough."

"But...but that doesn't mean he's still not out there somewhere! So he's not here. But he must be somewhere else. _He must be_. Juvia…Juvia will help you, okay? We'll look at all the news articles and the rumours. He's out there somewhere—''

"Bullshit! He's not! _He's not!_ If he were out there somewhere, then why the fuck is he still hiding? _Why_? Why hasn't he come home yet!?" Gajeel's voice is strained, almost as if it physically pains him to say the words. Juvia stares at him, slightly afraid. She's never seen him this mad or upset before.

"Juvia's perfectly sure that there's a good reason why we haven't found him yet—''

"It's because he doesn't want us to! _He doesn't want us to!_ That's why!" He turns away from her and starts pacing back and forth, the wind nipping at his face. "And here I am…actually searching for that selfish prick and he doesn't even want me to find him…"

"He can't be doing it on purpose—''

"If he wanted me to find him, if…if he wanted to come back…it would've happened years ago. Forget it. He doesn't want me. If he did…he wouldn't have left in the first place," he says, shoulders sagging.

"Juvia's sure that, that's not the reason why he left. People don't just leave for no reason at all. He must've done so with your best interests at heart—''

"No. If he had my best interests at heart he wouldn't fucking up and leave without telling me where he's going or when he'll be back—''

"You mean just like what you did today?"

"Shut up! That's different. I was going to go back for you."

"Gajeel-kun, Juvia knows you're hurt and angry—''

"Stop it. Stop acting like you know how I feel," Gajeel snaps.

"But Juvia does know what you feel. When her parents died—''

"That's different. Better a dead father than a father that doesn't want you," he spits out.

Silence.

Juvia blinks at him, trying to tell herself that he didn't mean it. That he's just lashing out because he couldn't find Metallicana.

"I'm sorry," Gajeel finally says.

Juvia raises her brows in surprise. "That's a first."

"What?"

"Getting two apologies from you in the same day," she says in an attempt to lighten the mood. She moves closer to him so that she's holding the umbrella over both their heads. "But you're right. Juvia doesn't know how you feel. She doesn't even know why Metallicana left or why he hasn't come back. But what she does know is…that no matter what…you can always count on at least one person to be there for you. Me."

He doesn't say anything for a long time. He's turning the bag of stuff over in his hands, eyes hurt and brows drawn.

"You should've told me about this," Juvia softly tells him.

"So what? You could feel sorry for me when we find out that he isn't here. _Again?" _he demands.

"So you won't have to deal with the disappointment alone," she says. The harsh look in his eyes slightly softens. After a few more moments of tense silence, she finally says, "Come on. Let's go home."

"Okay." Gajeel nods. The two of them start walking to the train station.

"You know…you probably don't want to hear this but…Juvia is one hundred percent sure that Metallicana loves you very much and had a good reason for leaving you."

To her surprise, instead of cutting her off, he actually looks at her from the corner of his eye.

"How would you know?" he gruffly says.

"Juvia's heard all the stories you told her about him, remember? And from what she knows….he loves you, Gajeel-kun. And one day….she just _knows_….you'll see him again. Don't give up or lose hope," she tells him. And she means it too. She's not just saying it to make him feel better. She's heard stories of Metallicana, knows how fondly Gajeel speaks about him. Metallicana was a good father. And Gajeel's a good person and he's been through a lot. She just knows that someday things will work out for him and he'll get all of the answers he needs.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Sprinkler," he says as he gives her a small punch on the arm.

They walk together in complete silence, Gajeel's lips are thinly pressed together, almost as if he's wrestling with a particularly difficult problem.

"Juvia?"

"Hm?"

He looks away, embarrassed. "Can I still get that hug?"

"Of course!" Juvia squeals as she tackles him into hug, water sploshing all around them.

"Ow! Okay! Okay! That's enough! Get off me!"

He stops squirming as Juvia pulls him closer, her head comfortably nestled against his chest. He relaxes and she can tell that for the first time since this whole thing's started, he's finally allowing himself to fall apart. Okay, maybe not. Gajeel never falls apart. But he's allowing her to help at least.

"Crazy woman," he mutters and she smiles.


	3. Rain

**Rain**

* * *

When he wakes up, the sky is covered with thick, dark clouds.

Immediately, he can tell that Juvia's upset.

By now, it's sort of automatic. People from the guild still have trouble trying to figure out the difference between regular rain and Juvia-rain but he's been friends with her long enough to just _know_. Regular rain smells like wet grass and freshly dug earth but Juvia-rain has that nostalgic far-off ocean smell that just feels _sad_. It makes him think of warm nights with Metallicana, singing songs with him, playing the guitar—you know, moments that are never going to happen again, _ever_. It's not something that he can accurately explain.

But anyway, the point is, Juvia's sad and he's going to have to be the one to fix it before she _drowns_ the entire city.

So the first thing he does is look for Stripper because chances are, if Juvia's upset, then it's probably his fault. Then, he realizes that, that's probably not fair of him because Stripper's actually an okay guy and he's pretty nice to Juvia for like, ninety-five percent of the time. So he decides to just head to Juvia's apartment, ask her what's wrong and give her saltwater taffy. It's not raining so he figures that she's not yet too upset and he still has time to nip this in the bud.

When she opens the door, she looks a little surprised (and confused) to see him.

"Gajeel-kun?" she says, her brows scrunching up.

"Hey," he says. She's smiling at him and wearing a nice dress that surprisingly shows off her shoulders and arms. In her hands, there's a girly, little summer hat, her pink umbrella and a wicker basket decorated with all these blue ribbons. All in all? She definitely does not look like a girl who's miserable over something.

But the thing is, he _knows _that she's the one behind the dark clouds and he's never wrong about these kinds of things.

He's sure that she's sad and is just hiding it. He's seen her do it during their Phantom Lord days. She can be a fantastic actress when she wants to be.

"So…what's wrong?" he bluntly says. No point in beating around the bush. He has a mission this afternoon so he wants to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"W-What?" Juvia incredulously says.

He holds out the saltwater taffy he's just bought her. "Look, I know you're sad and stuff. So just tell me what's wrong so I can give you this and help or whatever."

He doesn't get why she won't tell him. She's usually a lot more open with him when something's bothering her. Seriously. If she's sad or pissed, she will straight up tell him.

"Why on earth would Juvia be sad?" she says. Her cheeks redden and a dreamy look crosses her face. "She just came back from a mission with Gray-sama!"

"Really?" Gajeel says, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "So what did he do? Was he an ass to you? Because if he was—''

"Why would you think Gray-sama was being an ass to Juvia? He was nothing but sweet during our trip!" she says, looking offended in behalf of Stripper.

"Because I know you're distressed and stuff and since you just came back from a mission with him, I figured he caused it—''

"For millionth time, Juvia is not distressed or upset or sad. She's perfectly fine!" she says, looking at him as if he's crazy.

"But the clouds—''

"Natural rain—''

"I'm pretty sure that it's not—''

"Gajeel-kun—''

"What?"

She puts her hands on her hips and arches a brow. "Do I look like a person who's secretly crying on the inside?"

He looks at her bright, sunny outfit and ridiculously cheerful hat and basket.

"Okay, fine. Maybe not," he grudgingly admits.

"See? You're overreacting." Her smile widens and she happily walks out of her apartment and locks the door from behind her. "But Juvia is happy that you're so concerned for her."

"I wasn't," he hastily mumbles. "I just didn't want you crying and making it rain all over the place."

"Right," she disbelievingly says. She impishly taps a finger against his nose and giggles. "Maybe Gajeel-kun should get his nose fixed—''

"Quit it!" he says, swatting her hand away.

She gestures for the taffy and he rolls his eyes and tosses it over to her. She gives him a huge grin in response and chirps, "Thanks, Gajeel-kun!"

"Whatever." He watches her fix the ribbons on her basket. "Why are you wearing that anyway? What's with the basket?"

"Juvia has to look nice for today. And she's going shopping!" she brightly tells him.

He gives her a blank look. "Shopping?"

She nods her head. "Yes. Juvia was planning to do it yesterday but…her mission with Gray-sama took longer than expected. So she decided to take a break and do it today!"

He's _sure_ that he heard a small crack in her voice when she said 'but.'

He gives her a look of suspicion.

"What are you even going to shop for?"

"Oh…stuff," she evasively tells him.

Okay, she's definitely hiding something. And the clouds still haven't gone away.

"And I bet you want me to come along with you so I can carry all your stuff, right?" he says.

"Um, actually, not really—''

He heaves a big sigh and makes a show of being annoyed. "Fine. I'll do it."

"But—''

He grabs her by the elbow and carefully steers her towards the exit.

"You know, you really should stop making me go on your shopping trips," he grumbles.

"But Gajeel-kun," Juvia whines. "You never went shopping with her. And she never asked you to come."

Obviously, he knows that. He's not stupid. But something's up with her and he's not comfortable with leaving her alone until he knows _for sure_ that she's okay. They've only been in Fairy Tail for a few weeks so they haven't really made a lot of friends yet. At this point, they've really only got each other when it comes to sharing their problems.

And he knows that she has a problem.

His nose is _never_ wrong.

* * *

He really shouldn't have tried being a good friend.

_He really shouldn't have. _

He's just spent the last three hours being dragged across town, helping Juvia buy the most ridiculous things. First, they went to a candle store and spent forever choosing between a white, spirally candle with golden flecks and one that was shaped like a tree with red cherry blossoms. Then, they went to a fruit stall where Juvia annoyed the fuck out of the fruit lady because none of the fruits were good enough—they were either too bruised or ripe or too fruity-smelling. After that, they went to a flower shop where Juvia spent one whole hour obsessing over which flowers to pick and nitpicking over the perfect arrangement.

He's seriously never going shopping with her again.

"Can you please hurry up?"

"Just hold on for a moment. Juvia is still picking."

"I have a mission to get to!"

"She knows but—''

"Don't you have a train to catch as well?"

"There's still plenty of time."

"Ugh," he says, sighing in annoyance. He stands there for a few minutes, irately tapping his foot.

"Gajeel-kun?"

"What?" he gruffly says as he checks the time. Shit. It's almost noon. If he doesn't leave now, he's going to miss the train.

"Do you think this frame is something a sophisticated, older gentleman would like? Or this one?" Juvia asks him as she holds up a dark, blue, rectangular frame and a brown, circular one.

"I guess—wait. _Older_ gentleman? What're you talking about? Who's that for?" he says, eyes narrowed in scrutiny. "Our creepy ass grandpa guild master better not be taking advantage of you—''

"It's not like that!" she says, face reddening and cheeks puffing up in anger. "Now tell me. Which one is better? This one? Or this—''

A loud wail interrupts her train of speech.

The two of them turn around and find a little boy crying. Juvia puts the two picture frames down and heads towards the kid.

"What's wrong?" she gently says as she carefully takes his tiny hands into her own.

"I lost my daddy," he whimpers, face wet with tears.

An expression that Gajeel can't read maps across Juvia's face. It's there for a second and then, just as quickly, it's gone.

"Is that so?" Juvia says. "Don't worry. Juvia will bring you back to your daddy."

"Um…Sprinkler?"

"Hm?"

"Is this gonna take long? Because I still have a mission to get to," he asks. The look he just saw on her face is a little troubling but he really has to go and so far, for the whole morning, she seemed totally fine. Like her usual self. And it still hasn't full-on rained yet so maybe, he _might_ have been wrong when he thought that she was causing the dark clouds.

"Oh right! Don't worry about it! Just go on ahead," she cheerfully tells him. "Juvia'll be fine on her own."

"You sure?"

She nods her head and gives him a re-assuring look.

"Okay. Well. Have fun babysitting," he impishly says as he starts walking backwards.

"Bye Gajeel-kun!" she says. She waves one last time before taking the kid's hand into her own and walking away.

* * *

When the train enters Magnolia and rain starts pounding against the windows, he whacks a palm against his forehead and loudly groans. So he was right. Juvia was upset. And now it's become so much worse—there's lightning and the thunder and he feels as if the wind is about to lift off the entire train. It's a fucking _storm_.

He starts panicking when he realizes that she's probably crying and being all emotional right now. And he absolutely can't handle her when she's being like that. Okay, fine. Maybe he sort of can. But that doesn't mean he enjoys it. Or is very good at it.

The train squeals to a stop, pulling him out of his thoughts. He quickly gets out and heads to the nearest saltwater taffy stand to buy a bag. Taffy's not going to fix everything but it will help. In the taffy stall, he asks another customer how long it's been raining and when the man answers that the rain just started, he sighs in relief. That's good. At least that means Juvia hasn't been depressed for too long.

He's just heading towards the exit when he see Juvia sitting on a nearby bench, knees pulled closed together and hands clasped tightly on top of her lap.

"Juves?" he carefully says as he approaches her.

She looks up, startled. Her eyes are rimmed with tears and she's sniffling, her wet hair sticking against her face.

"What…what the fuck happened?"

"It's…it's nothing."

"But—''

"Look…Juvia is fine, okay?" Juvia says as she hastily attempts to rub the tears out of her eyes.

"You know if you're crying…" he says as he reluctantly sits beside her. "I promise not to make fun of you."

Juvia hiccups at the familiar line, her lips twitching into a half-smile.

"Come on! Tell me who made you cry! I'll beat his or her face in!"

She shakes her head. "It's nothing. It's just…just that…Juvia missed her train…"

Her voice cracks and more tears escape from her eyes. Gajeel uncomfortably shifts, unsure of what to do.

"Oh," he says, not really sure what to say next. Why was she so upset about missing her train? "Did you have an important mission to get to?"

"Sort of," she says as she looks at her hands.

"Hey, come on. That's nothing to cry over. You can go on the next train—''

"But it won't leave until late in the evening and Juvia…Juvia needs to get there by today!" she says, her voice breaking out into a wail.

"Why? Can the mission only be done today?"

She nods her head.

He loudly exhales. "Well, you probably would've made it to an earlier train if you hadn't helped that little brat—''

"Gajeel-kun! He lost his daddy!" Juvia fiercely protests, an emotion he doesn't recognize clouding her voice.

"Well, whatever. It's your fault that you missed the mission so stop crying and just own up to it!"

"Y-You're right! It's all Juvia's fault!" she moans, breaking out into sobs.

Okay, wrong thing to say.

"But I mean, it's probably okay because Master Makarov is nice so he probably won't be too mad. He'll forgive you so you shouldn't be out here crying like an idiot. And maybe an earlier train will come. The day isn't even over yet so you still have plenty of time," he hastily says as he awkwardly pats her back. "And besides…look! I got you taffy!"

Juvia buries her face in her hands for a moment. Gajeel just sits there in tense silence, still holding the bag of taffy out to her.

After a few minutes, Juvia sits up, a small smile on her face. "You're right. She's being ridiculous. She still has a lot of time!"

"Yeah. I mean you can rent a private carriage or something—''

She tackles him into a big hug. "Thanks, Gajeel-kun!"

She's about to tell him to get off of him but then he remembers that she's still crazy sad right now. "Yeah...sure. Whatever."

She leans back and tosses the taffy into her basket. A dimple appears between his brows when he realizes that instead of that ridiculously expensive bouquet they had bought, there's a spray of ice-blue flowers mounted on an intricately carved pedestal made entirely of ice. There are roses and irises and a couple of orchids, all carefully shaped and arranged, glistening against the dim station lights. He swiftly shoots her a questioning glance. "What happened to your flowers? And was Stripper here?"

"Yes! He was! He helped her bring the little boy back to his dad!" Her face softens. "In her hurry to get on the train, she dropped her flowers and it got smashed into the railway. But Gray-sama saw it all and made her a new one! Isn't it pretty?"

"I guess," he mumbles.

The two of them stand up and start walking towards the exit. She looks at the flowers and wistfully runs a finger through one of it's leaves. "They're really so much prettier than the ones Juvia bought. It probably won't last long but...Juvia is really thankful she has these at least."

"I guess. So you okay now or what?"

She forces out a smile and nods her head. "Yup! She feels better!"

She avoids his gaze and turns her umbrella over in her hands. He squints his eyes at her, tries to read the expression on her face.

"You know…you can be such a drama queen sometimes," Gajeel says.

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia says, cheeks puffing up in anger.

"What? You know it's true!"

Well. At least she's smiling again.

* * *

He's been following her for the last thirty minutes. Which really isn't easy in this pouring rain.

They split up at the market because she had to go somewhere. She insisted that she was fine and that she was feeling better but it was still raining and he just knew that she was still up to something. He's not an idiot. Missing the train is obviously not what made her sad.

She starts climbing up a steep hill and it takes him a while to catch up because of all the mud and rain. But when he finally gets to the top, his eyes widen in surprise when he sees that she has a mat spread out. The picture frame (she picked the blue one after all) is placed at the front and the flower arrangement and candle are placed at each side.

Gajeel moves forward, careful not to alert Juvia of his presence, as he tries to get a closer look at the photograph in the picture frame. It's a photo of a blue-haired man of about thirty years old, with a sharp nose and distinctly angular face. He probably would have looked severe if it weren't for that bright look in his eyes that was so _Juvia_—it's the same look she gets whenever she goes into one of her crazy imagination-spiels.

Who is that man? And what the hell is Juvia doing?

She brings a match out and after several unsuccessful attempts, lights up the candle. An icy wind flits past her. She shivers and tightens her hold on her umbrella.

She picks up one of the apples and takes a huge bite out of it, leaning back as she tenderly gazes at the photograph. He's not exactly sure if it's the rain or the tears but her face is wet.

"Sorry that Juvia couldn't go home today," Juvia says as she gingerly touches the photograph with her fingers. Rain and wind slams against her and she rubs her arms to keep herself warm.

Her eyes crinkle up into a smile. "Happy Birthday, otou-sama."

Fuck.

Fuck.

So that's why she didn't want to tell him anything. Her parents' death has always been a very touchy subject for her.

Suddenly, he feels like he's intruding on an intimate moment and wishes that he never bothered to follow her in the first place. Before he can stop himself, he starts thinking about Metallicana and all those warm nights singing songs and playing the guitar.

Great. Just great. Now Juvia has him feeling all weird. He rubs the back of his neck, trying to distract himself from gnawing feeling moiling in his chest. He should probably just leave and—

Juvia loudly sneezes.

He looks up and finds her shivering and sniffling. She looks so..._alone_. And vulnerable. He probably should lend her his jacket or something. But then again, she didn't want him to find out that today was her dead father's birthday so he's not exactly sure what he's supposed to do.

She sneezes again.

He sighs in annoyance.

"Oi! Idiot!"

Juvia turns around, surprised. He barrels straight towards her and starts taking his jacket off.

"Gajeel-kun?''

He tosses the jacket towards her. It slams against the head and she topples backwards.

"Crazy woman!" he scowls, looking away. "What do think you're doing staying out here in the rain with nothing but those clothes on? You're gonna get a damn cold."

Juvia looks up at him, a slightly angry look in her eyes. "Gajeel-kun…what are you doing—"

"I can leave if you want," he quickly says, cutting her off before she can finish. "Just didn't want you to _die_ from pneumonia or something."

"Gajeel-kun. I'm the ame-onna. The _rain_ woman. Juvia's pretty sure she wouldn't get sick from the rain."

"Look, do you want me to leave or not?" he impatiently asks.

A long stretch of silence passes between them.

"No," she says, voice small.

"Fine. Scoot over and give me some room under your umbrella." Gajeel sits down and looks away, feeling jerky and uncomfortable. Her brows are still drawn together and her mouth is stretched into a thin line. She's still angry with him. And honestly? She has every right to be. He gets that. He has no right to be here. But he obviously can't just leave her here in the middle of freaking thunderstorm, even if she is the ame-onna. Juvia's not only his friend—she's his _person_. He'll always have her back even in times that she doesn't want him to.

He looks over at the picture and briefly wonders if he should mention the fact that he's basically intruding on her dead father's birthday celebration.

He catches a glimpse at the hard, tense look in her eyes.

Probably not the best idea.

Well, fine. She can be as mad at him as much as she wants. At least he didn't leave her here to die or something.

"Gajeel-kun?"

"What?"

She leans forward and wraps her arms around his shoulders. He looks at her from the corner of her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispers.

"Yeah, well…" He pauses for a moment and tries to think of a way to return the gesture in a way that won't make him feel weird. Finally, he awkwardly pats her on the head. Juvia shoots him a slightly bemused look.

"Sure. Anytime."

He ruffles her hair and she looks up and smiles at him. He's not sure but he swears he sees a bit of the sun peeking through the clouds.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Why do I always write brotp moments in the rain? Hahaha well this was a bit serious than normal but I suppose it has something to do with the prompt. I'm thinking of writing a companion piece to this; it'll be about Gray meeting Juvia and seeing her all sad as she misses the train.

Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think if you have the chances :)


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